Musk Review: Alex Gibney’s Four-Hour Portrait of Elon Musk Is Long, Critical, and Hard to Ignore

Alex Gibney has spent two decades making documentaries about powerful people and institutions. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room looked at a collapsed energy giant. Going Clear examined Scientology, and The Inventor followed the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. His latest subject is probably his biggest yet: Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, the owner of X, and the richest person in the world.

Musk runs 235 minutes, close to four hours, and it opened in US theaters on October 9, 2026, through Bleecker Street. Gibney spent nearly four years making it. He says he started as something close to an admirer, someone who saw Musk as a risk-taker building electric cars, solar power, and rockets. The film is the story of how that view changed, and it asks a direct question: how did one man gain so much power, and why did the rest of us hand it to him?

What the Documentary Covers

The film begins with Musk at his most impressive. Gibney has said that for the first 45 minutes, viewers may find themselves rooting for him. It follows his early business ventures, including an online banking company that later became part of PayPal, and then the rise of Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and eventually the purchase of Twitter, which he renamed X. The letter itself becomes a theme. Musk has attached it to his companies and even to one of his children, and the film treats it as a symbol of his need for branding and control.

From there, the documentary takes a much harder look. Interviews with former colleagues, such as Tesla’s original founder Martin Eberhard, argue that Musk takes credit for work that others did and promises far more than he delivers. The film examines claims about Tesla’s self-driving technology and its safety record, including footage of fatal accidents. It also includes interviews with journalists and tech experts such as Kara Swisher, as well as accounts from people close to him, including his father, Errol Musk, his first wife, Justine Musk, and Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of his children.

The second half moves from business to politics and government. The film follows Musk’s relationship with Donald Trump and his role leading DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, in the early months of the second Trump administration. It notes that DOGE promised $2 trillion in savings and claimed far less, and it explores how the cuts affected foreign aid programs, with former US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power describing the impact of the USAID shutdown. It also looks at how deeply Musk’s companies are tied into government and defense work, including the Pentagon’s use of his AI product, Grok.

Keep in mind that these are the film’s arguments and the claims of its interviewees. Musk disputes the documentary, and some of the most serious charges come from people with personal histories with him.

An AI Version of Musk and a Video Game Look

Musk declined to take part, so Gibney had to find another way to put him on screen. His team built a database of Musk’s public statements and used it to create an AI-generated version of Musk that speaks only words he has actually said. The avatar looks slightly off by design, stiff and a little uncanny, and it blends with the archival footage as the film goes on.

The film also leans into a video game idea. Musk has talked publicly about simulation theory, the notion that reality might be a computer simulation. Gibney uses that as a lens, suggesting that Musk treats the world like a game where he’s the main player. Animated sequences styled like a first-person shooter bring that idea to life. The archival footage is assembled with care, and the editing places Musk’s statements side by side so that patterns emerge over time.

The Controversy Around the Film

Musk has been in the news almost as much as its subject. After the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, Musk posted on X, calling it a “hit piece,” although it wasn’t clear whether he had seen it. His attorney threatened a defamation lawsuit before the release. Gibney has said that his team repeatedly tried to reach Musk and offered a chance to respond to facts in the film, and that Musk’s side declined to engage.

The release has also faced obstacles. The Associated Press reported that Bleecker Street has been unable to run paid ads on several major social media platforms. Universal holds the international rights, and the studio has said its plans to release the film overseas haven’t changed. HBO has the streaming rights. Variety reports that the film will stream there in the first quarter of 2027, and Gibney has said there’s an even longer version of about six hours.

Is It Worth Four Hours?

That depends on what you want. The film is thorough and carefully assembled, and its subject is hard to avoid, since Musk’s influence reaches cars, social media, space travel, AI, and government. If you’ve followed the headlines but never seen the full picture, it offers a lot of context in one sitting. It also arrives with an intermission, which helps.

It’s also a one-sided portrait by design. Without Musk’s participation, his perspective comes mostly through old interviews, public posts, and the AI avatar. Viewers who admire Musk are likely to find the film unfair, and those who are skeptical will probably find their views confirmed. A four-hour runtime is a hard sell either way, and the home-viewing window is still months away.

The Verdict

Musk is an ambitious, absorbing, and deliberately critical documentary. Gibney makes strong creative choices, from the AI avatar to the game-inspired animation, and he builds a detailed case about power and image. Whether you agree with its conclusions or not, it raises questions that are worth discussing.

Rating: 4/5

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Quick Facts

• Title: Musk
• Director: Alex Gibney
• Writers: Alex Gibney, Michael J. Palmer
• Genre: Documentary
• Runtime: 3h 55m (235 minutes), with an intermission
• Rated: R
• Featuring: Elon Musk (archive footage), Justine Musk, Ashley St. Clair, Kara Swisher, Martin Eberhard, Errol Musk, Samantha Power
• World premiere: Venice Film Festival, September 2026
• US distributor: Bleecker Street
• International distributor: Universal
• Streaming: HBO, expected in the first quarter of 2027
• Release date: October 9, 2026 (US theaters)

Where to Watch

Musk is playing in US theaters now through Bleecker Street. It’s expected to stream on HBO in the first quarter of 2027, in a longer version.

Have you seen “Musk”? Share your thoughts in the comments below.